Saturday, October 27, 2012

Toronto After Dark 2012: My Thoughts on Game of Werewolves (Lobos De Arga)

I should probably begin by commenting that Game of Werewolves is the terrible localized title for the Spanish horror-comedy Lobos De Arga (which is literally translated to Werewolves of Arga). I have no idea why it was decided to rename the film Game of Werewolves (perhaps it’s the success of Game of Thrones). Since I believe it would be disrespectful to continue referencing it as such, I’m going to spend the rest of this review referring to the film as Lobos De Arga.

The film focuses on a writer named Tomás Mariño, who was invited to his ancestral village of Arga for a special tribute. He is greeted by his old best friend Calisto, as well as his uncle Evaristo, who also happens to be the mayor and village priest. It quickly begins apparent that the true reason Tomás was summoned to the village was to break a century old curse, in which one of his ancestors was transformed into a werewolf that terrorizes the village. The curse can only be broken if the werewolf devours someone from its bloodline and Tomás was chosen to be the sacrificial victim. Let’s just say that there were a few clauses to this curse and soon the entire village has gone lycanthrope and Tomás, Calisto, and, Tomás’ editor, Mario have to race to survive the night, while being pursued by countless werewolves.

As homage to the classic horror films that it was inspired by, Lobos De Arga uses primarily practical effects to depict the werewolf transformations. The werewolves themselves are simply guys in big wolf suits, though I thought they looked good in the context of the film. The film is more of an adventure-comedy than a straight horror film, though I thought that it was quite entertaining. Often werewolf films focus on only one or two werewolves, so it was definitely a treat to watch a film that had an entire village of lycans. My only real criticism is that the night scenes, which make up the bulk of the film, were shot a little too dark for my liking.

Overall, I would say that Lobos De Arga was fun way to finish off the 2012 Toronto After Dark film festival.

About Sean Kelly -

Sean Patrick Kelly is a self-described über-geek, who has been an avid film lover for all his life. He graduated from York University in 2010 with an honours B.A. in Cinema and Media Studies and he likes to believe he knows what he’s talking about when he writes about film (despite occasionally going on pointless rants).